how to measure " a good pellet" other than amount of ash?

[steelman]

i have purchased a few brands, Michigan hard wood, American Wood fibers, and 2 other brands that i can remember. the best i have tried is Kentucky Kernals. bar none! a great pellet, as far as i know. the American, and the Michigan were terrible, i was emptying the ask pan every 2 days. the Kentucky Kernals i empty once a week or after 14 to 18 bags. the heat seems about the same as any of them.

so "how do you tell a good pellet" by the heat output? i have tried a temp gun, temp changes by the min. i have tried a "strap on" temp gauge on the flu, on the stove, on the heated air output , on the water for my domestic hot water system, etc...nothing seems to change in temp from one pellet to another.

i would think that the way to check the temp of a given brand of pellet would be the system with the lest amount of veritable s. the chimney gas. or the temp of the heated air that is forced through the house. the temperatures on the stove surfaces always change.

anyone else been wondering?

i do think that with the premium (like Kentucky Kernals or Hot Ones" brands are worth the extra price because you know what your going to get. or at least they seem consistent from one winter to another or from one ton to another. the box store brands seem to run the gamut. i have purchased 3 tons at the same time at Menard's and the amount of ash was different between each ton.

thank you.

jim

 

[chken]

I have 4 criteria: fines, ash, bag2bag consistency, and smoke temp at the exhaust vents. If the stove and outdoor conditions are similar, I feel that the stove's own measure of exhaust temp is the most reliable method of heat comparison.

 

[alternativeheat]

i have purchased a few brands, Michigan hard wood, American Wood fibers, and 2 other brands that i can remember. the best i have tried is Kentucky Kernals. bar none! a great pellet, as far as i know. the American, and the Michigan were terrible, i was emptying the ask pan every 2 days. the Kentucky Kernals i empty once a week or after 14 to 18 bags. the heat seems about the same as any of them.

so "how do you tell a good pellet" by the heat output? i have tried a temp gun, temp changes by the min. i have tried a "strap on" temp gauge on the flu, on the stove, on the heated air output , on the water for my domestic hot water system, etc...nothing seems to change in temp from one pellet to another.

i would think that the way to check the temp of a given brand of pellet would be the system with the lest amount of veritable s. the chimney gas. or the temp of the heated air that is forced through the house. the temperatures on the stove surfaces always change.

anyone else been wondering?

i do think that with the premium (like Kentucky Kernals or Hot Ones" brands are worth the extra price because you know what your going to get. or at least they seem consistent from one winter to another or from one ton to another. the box store brands seem to run the gamut. i have purchased 3 tons at the same time at Menard's and the amount of ash was different between each ton.

thank you.

jim

I would think that "good pellets" are ones that burn consistently well in ones brand of stove. In the case of Harman, it doesn't matter so much regarding heat because the stove will monitor that and adjust itself accordingly. It may matter in terms of longevity of burn per LB and thus how far a ton goes. As you said, also ash. This isn't a whole lot different from my coal experience, there can be quite a difference in that supply of heat as well, ash etc.. Anyway, other brands of pellets stoves with more hands on may be effected heat wise. I don't know, I'm new to pellets but that is all how it plays out in my mind at least.

 

[Augmister]

Are you warm in your house, in cold weather? I keep it simple. Way too busy for interest in making this a "science fair" project.

 

[boo boo]

I have only burned for a little over a year so not much here. I tried 7 or 8 brands but have not seen much difference in a lot of them. $6.39 a bag at Agway and $4.19 at HD seemed to burn the same in my stove. I went with the cheaper one.

 

[Hoot23]

To me, a good pellet smells good, low fines, easy to clean, and size consistency.